Popular Gladys Porter Zoo exhibit separates snake fact from snake fiction
By JULIAN CAVAZOS
The Brownsville Herald
With their fierce eyes and pointy fangs, snakes can look pretty scary. Perhaps, said herpetologist David Martin, snakes fear people as much as people fear them.
“Instinctively, snakes are very afraid of any large animal,” Martin, who works for The Gladys Porter Zoo, said. “When a human being approaches a snake, humans are not seen as a prey, but as a potential predator.”
It’s quite a different story in “Snakes on a Plane,” the new film starring Samuel L. Jackson that’s quickly becoming a pop culture phenomena. The film, which opens today, has sparked amateur parody movies, scripts, cartoons, Web sites and countless blog posts since its production began in 2005. In the film, Jackson’s character battles ultraviolent snakes that threaten passengers during a flight.
Martin doesn’t agree with what he says is the entertainment media’s portrayal of snakes as dangerous predators.
“Unfortunately, like tarantulas, snakes are portrayed in ways in TV and movies that give people a very distorted impression of how they behave, how dangerous they are and how they interact with people,” he said. “TV and movies focus primarily on entertainment, not education.”
Martin said action films like “Snakes on a Plane” and the “Anaconda” series rarely get it right.
“Unlike in the movies, anacondas don’t really move at incredible speeds. They’re slow moving. They’re not something that you get chased by,” he said. “They have never been known to eat a human or attack a human.”
South Texas Snakes
Dangerous or not, the large variety of snakes at Gladys Porter Zoo are kept behind solid glass. The zoo houses more than 35 different breeds of snakes, most of which are captive-born and bred. Among the zoo’s collection are five species of rattlesnakes, two of which are native to South Texas.
The Western Diamondback and the Massasauga Rattlesnake are venomous snakes native to the region. The Diamondback is the most common of the two. It can be recognized, Martin said, by a series of gray diamond-shaped markings on its back, two white flash markings on its face and, of course, the rattle.
“The rattle is a warning display to scare off the predator,” Martin said. “The snake itself can’t hear the rattle … they can only feel the vibration.”
The other most common snake in South Texas is the Coral Snake. They are short, ranging mostly from 24 to 35 inches long, and are known for a red-yellow-black marking sequence. Like the Diamondback, the Coral is venomous.
Predator and Prey
A venomous snake’s reaction to a human can vary, Martin said. Many times, if the snake knows it has been seen, it will become defensive, face its threat and strike repeatedly. Sometimes a snake will try to escape its potential predator or it will remain motionless and not reveal itself. If a person comes across a venomous snake, Martin said, the best defense is to stop and back up slowly to appear non-threatening.
“If a person encounters a rattlesnake, for example, they should freeze,” he said. “With as little movement as possible, you should first look in the direction you want move to make sure there’s not another rattlesnake there. You want to get out of the striking range and slowly get out of its way.”
Dangerous snakes usually inject venom to weaken or kill prey, not for self-defense. Venom is metabolically expensive, Martin said, and is typically conserved for obtaining food.
Most snakes, Martin said, are non-venomous. The zoo exhibit features non-venomous snakes like the Speckled Racer Snake and the Longnosed Snake
The popular exhibit also features snakes from around the globe. The Black Mamba and Red Spitting Cobra are from Africa, the King Cobra and Waglers Viper hail from Southeast Asia and the Eyelash Viper is native to Central America.
People have a lot to learn about snakes, Martin said. The zoo hopes to promote awareness about the slithery reptiles to counteract their bad onscreen reputation.
“In the future, we hope to have a portion of the zoo Web site that specifically talks about how to recognize dangerous snakes here,” Martin said. “They (films and TV shows) involve exaggerated characteristics having little relation to reality. Books are better sources of information.”
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